A Beautiful Redesign

Bliss Brain Corporation*, some of the makers of the iconic Wonder Boy Collection, have brought us a new revision of a 1991 game Princess Maker. Princess Maker was an original hit and practically pioneered the Social Simulation genre. Now, Bliss Brain has brought us Princess Maker Refine!

Social simulation, is a genre where you typically play a specific role in a given society and learn to thrive in the environment set before you by completing story driven tasks. Your performance and decisions can impact the mood of characters, the outcome of stories and thus the level of your success.

Princess Maker has a very innovative system in which, you as the player, serve as a war hero and choose to raise a young girl starting at age 10 to protect her from the looming death and destruction of the world. It originally received lots of praise and is still a fan favorite of the genre. Now? It has been remade with better colors (originally 16) and voices for every character – where the original only had voices for the daughter.

Other Notable Features

Some of the notable changes provided in Princess Maker Refine are:

New Opening Cinematic (below): An original opening cinematic sequence has been added to “Princess Maker“, produced by Yonago GAINAX* under the leadership of the original GAINAX “Princess Maker” designer: Takami Akai.
Revised localizations in Chinese and English: Players who experienced the Chinese (traditional or simplified) and English localizations of the game in the past have given us some stern feedback. Accordingly, we have comprehensively revised and retranslated the localised versions. All of the “fathers” who once enjoyed playing this game in English or Chinese now have a chance to raise their “daughters” in a whole new environment.
Optimised for the latest OS: A version of “Princess Maker Refine” based on the package version re-released in 2003 is currently available online. This version exhibited problems, including unreliable gameplay and poor graphics display on some systems. To address the issue, we have rebuilt the game so that it can be played reliably in the latest operating environments. The latest and most detailed information about the Steam version of “Princess Maker Refine” is available on blissbrain.co.jp.

Message From the Designer

In Princess Maker Refine, from the developer, you are a war hero who saved the kingdom from the brink of destruction by a demon army. Weary of death and destruction, you decide to raise a war orphan as your own daughter.

Her dream is to become a princess. You must educate this innocent girl and raise her to be a respectable woman. Her future happiness and prosperity are dependent on your efforts.

The love you give to her and her dreams will eventually become something beautiful…

Takami Akai*, one of the creative designers and also known for DAICON III’s opening animation, provided a message about the game: ‘I’d like to thank everyone who has shown so much love for “Princess Maker” since its release in 1991. I am very pleased that you will be able to enjoy the world of “Princess Maker” on a deeper level with this new, comprehensively-improved translation. I also had a wonderful time drawing familiar characters for the opening animated cinematic sequence that was added to this version. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed drawing it.’

I personally have never played this game and look forward to giving it a playthrough. Princess Maker Refine released to Steam on July 29th and is available now!

*About the Teams

*About Bliss Brain

Bliss Brain Corporation is a Japanese game publisher. Bliss Brain revives high quality games for the modern day and distributes them to the world in downloadable format. Currently, they offer “Princess Maker 2 Refine”, “Princess Maker ~Faery Tales Come True~”, and “Princess Maker 5” for download on Steam. “Wonder Boy Collection” (not yet released in Japan) will be released for the first time on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Bliss Brain plans to release more new games in the future. For details, visit https://blissbrain.co.jp

*About Yonago GAINAX

Takami Akai started this entertainment company in 2014, in his hometown of Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture. It does business based on the theme of contributing to the local community. With a small team of just 10 members, it works on unique jobs, including anime, games, and events. For details, visit https://yonago-gainax.co.jp.

*About Takami Akai

Born 1961. While still enrolled at Osaka University of Arts, he made his debut with the DAICON III Opening Animation. As one of the founding members of GAINAX Co., Ltd., he has worked on anime and tokusatsu shows, as well as games and events. His most noteworthy works include the “Princess Maker” series, Gurren Lagann, and Dai Tokusatsu Negiman.